Last Train
by Sango Tsubasa
Summary: 5D's College AU with full summery inside. Pairings include but not limited to Yusei x Kiryu, Jack x Yusei, Jack x Bruno, Yusei x Bruno, Crow x Brave, Jack x Carly, Sherry x Aki, Crow x Aki, Brave x Sherry, and Antinomy x Placido.
1. Stop 1

**Title: **Last Train

**Series:** Yugioh 5D's

**Type of AU:** College

**Author:** Sango Tsubasa

**Editor: **Iniquitus

**Rating: **MA, not that that has ever stopped minors ever.

**Summery: **College is where people experience life changing events that last their entire lives. See how it changes Yusei, Crow, Jack and the rest as they struggle to balance love, growing and mindless faffing about as they take the last train in their lives as teens and arrive at their last stop as young adults.

**Disclaimer:** This is a fanfic so obviously I don't own the characters. Also NSFW don't say I didn't warn you. I should probably mention that this will contain yaoi, yuri, het, and ever threesomes. And it may have certain triggers in the future but I'll try to warn everyone when that happens.

* * *

**Stop 1:**

Yusei is all unpacked, his side of the dorm now neat and clean-looking. Crow's side, to put none too fine a point on it, looks more like a bird's nest than an actual place to try to live in, but these were the things you learned to look past once you'd known someone for so long.

He turns towards the door as a knock sounds on it, with the spiky-haired orange man on the other bed deigning to lift his head off the pillows towards the noise.

"The King speaks thusly: Open up, you little shits," comes Jack's voice, proud and loud. The tall blond man had his room across the hall, owing to the lack of triple rooms on offer. Kiryu had intervened before Jack had gotten the sledgehammer up the stairs to make a triple-room, fortunately, and the straw-drawing had been accepted as the option resulting in the least violence.

"The door's fucking open, asshole," Crow retorts as he drops back down to sprawling on his bed, eyes closing to try to relax.

The spiny-haired man blinked at the mishmash of possessions scattered around one half of the room. "Wow, Crow, building yourself a nest? I mean, we're all aware that you're a birdbrain, but this..."

"Fuck you," Crow says without even bothering to open his eyes.

"Do you guys hear yourselves? You curse every other word," Yusei says to the room at large while delicately trying to thread a framed picture of himself and Kiryu - a thin, pale boy - grinning at the camera and hugging tightly in the middle of a strong wind onto the nail protruding from the wall.

"Sorry we're not as 'proper' as you, Yusei-saaaaan," Jack says, drawing out the sound with a smirk on his face and earning himself a warning glance from Yusei.

"Do you have to constantly remind me that I'm Japanese?"

"Yes," comes the cheerful reply.

Yusei sighs. Kiryu wasn't going to be online until later tonight, and the boy was severely doubting his ability to take much more of Crow's and Jack's incessant bickering.

"We have a floor meeting at eight. Wanna go explore campus until then?" Jack suggests, shoulders jerking disinterestedly upwards.

"I've had worse ideas," Crow sighs, stretching and sitting up. "You in, Yusei?"

"Cleaning first," Yusei returns firmly. "I'm not living in a room where getting up in the middle of the night for the toilet makes me risk losing an appendage if I stagger the wrong way."

"Yusei, you're living with me. This is how it is," Crow says, causing Yusei to frown.

"Crow."

The orange-hair groans and swings his legs over the side of his bed to the floor, narrowly missing a delicate-looking model of a paper-mache bird. "Fine, jeez. But I'll clean it later tonight, okay?"

"That'll do," Yusei concedes, and he too turns towards the door, Jack stepping aside to let him through.

* * *

"So, how's college?" the cheery guy on the other end of the video call asks.

Yusei raises an eyebrow. "I've only been here less than a day."

"Well, you can still have an opinion."

Yusei rolls his eyes, but not in an unkind manner. "I guess... it's okay? It's nice to be away from my parents. Plus, I've got a cool room and campus isn't too labyrinthine..."

"No home sickness?" and Kiryu lets a concerned glance slip through his flippant exterior.

"Not really."

Jack and Crow sat slumped on Crow's bed at the other end of the room, staring blankly at the television. Crow shoots a glance over to the black-haired man. "Think we won't have to deal with a breakup too early in the year? I dunno if my masculinity can take having to put up with Yusei when he's depressed - he already gets on my tits too much when he's happy."

"Don't worry your stupidly-dyed hairdo," Jack replies nonchalantly, Crow pulling a face at him. "If the movies have taught me anything, it's that all that needs to happen is for Yusei to fuck a robot, then blow up some bigger robots and everything's going to be a-okay."

In truth, the blond is rather looking forward to the (surely) inevitable breakup fueled by long-distance woes. When that happens, Yusei can stop spending so much time around that damn psycho Kiryu, and get back to hanging out with Jack. And Crow, too, but mostly Jack.

"I'll bring you up some cookies this weekend," Kiryu promises, a wide smile on his face.

"Ones that I like?"

The smile widens. "Do I know how to make any other kind?"

Yusei smiles at him, content for now.

"I miss you."

"I miss you too."

Next to Crow, Jack pulls a little face. They just saw each other this morning, for Christ's sake.

"Movie?" Crow suggests once the call is ended and loving, spine-crushingly-sappy goodbyes are exchanged.

"I'm gonna take a shower," Yusei sighs, arching his back to try to work the cricks from his back from where almost an hour of hunching over in front of the computer has left them. Crow nods and turns back, while Jack looks at Yusei until he disappears into the shower door.

"I am really fucking sick of Kiryu!" Jack hisses once the shower sounds up and Yusei can't hear him. "He's a fucking psychopath! How much you want to bet he comes up here, guilt trips Yusei about going to a different college, and reduces him to fuckin' tears?!"

"Direct yo' panic-tits in the downwards, Jack," Crow drawls disinterestedly. "What will happen will happen. Maybe Kiryu will finally push too hard and Yusei will lose it. Maybe they move to Hollywood and adopt ten little kids."

"I doubt it. Yusei is completely in fucking love with the guy! He doesn't even notice half the shit Kiryu pulls, all because the guy can make a decently cute pair of puppy dog eyes at him!"

"Then leave him alone to be happy."

"But Kiryu makes him more miserable than happy!"

Crow opens his mouth to say something, then clamps it shut and shakes his head. "I don't know what to fucking tell you, Jack! You tell me what I'm supposed to say, because apparently my opinion ain't worth shit!"

Jack glowers at him for a moment, then abruptly stood with a dark look on his face. "I'm going to bed," he announces sourly. Crow looks at his retreating back for a few more seconds, then shakes his head.

* * *

Tuesday, 3 o'clock.

Yusei made a point of arriving early to his first class; a Mechanics lecture that was a core component of his course. The class wasn't heavily-populated to the point of people crouching on the floors, but there were enough people there that Yusei has to sit near the back to not end up with someone's elbow in his stomach. He'd just settled down and pulled out a block of paper to write on when another guy arrives at the edge of the row and waves at Yusei.

"Hey. Uh, I'm Bruno. Mind if I make you move over a tiny bit so I can sit?" he says cheerily.

"No problem," Yusei answers and picks up his stuff to shift over a few seats. The guy nods in gratitude and sits down in the free space. "My name's Yusei. Nice to meet you, Bruno."

"The same to you," Bruno says politely. "I presume you're majoring in Engineering, from the course books that fell out of your bag just now?"

Yusei blinks, then sighs and ducks down underneath the desk row to recover the thick books. Bruno follows him down moments later, smiling and helping Yusei pick up the books to pile back into his bag.

"Thanks for that. I haven't seen you around up until now. You live on-campus?"

Bruno nods. "East Seaside. It's one of the Towers dorms. I'm guessing you live in a different one."

"Uh, I haven't really paid attention to the dorm names," Yusei offers a smile back. "I'm new in the city, and still trying to find my bearings."

"Well, I'd be happy to show you around sometime," Bruno says easily, as a hush falls and the lecturer makes his way to the front of the theatre. He scribbles a quick few numbers on a scrap of paper and pushes it Yusei's way.

031 874 9885 - Call me!

* * *

Yusei tries to keep track of time more accurately than 'I have five minutes to haul ass to some corner of campus I don't know even exists', but before he knows it, the nights and days have come and gone, and the weekend looms.

He'd given up trying to strong-arm Crow into doing any more cleaning than was necessary to still be able to reach the bed, and had now simply regressed to picking up and piling away whatever Crow doesn't yell too loudly about. Damn it all, the room is going to look habitable.

"So, should I turn the pictures of my mom facedown before I leave you with Kiryu?" Crow asks casually from his usual position of lying on the bed.

"I don't know. Maybe. Probably," Yusei replies absently.

"Well, just let me know so I can steer clear of here," Crow tells him.

"I'll put something on the doorknob."

Suddenly Yusei's phone buzzes. He lifts it from the table next to the bed and flips it open to look at the screen.

'Just got off the train. Taking a bus to your campus.'

Yusei smiles and quickly taps out an 'okay' in reply. Soon, he'll be here...

Kiryu texts back, "Meet me at the bus stop on campus?"

Yusei snaps the phone shut and slides it easily into his pocket. "I'm gonna go pick him up," he says to Crow as he goes outside, who waves a hand in acknowledgement.

Yusei stands at the side of the road trying to pick out Kiryu from the bustling crowds. Finally, a bus pulls up and lets off a string of people, and Kiryu emerges with only a suitcase and an ipod that he is listening to.

"Yuseiii~", he coos as they see each other and make their way towards each other. When they meet, they embrace as long as the jostling of the crowd lets them, Yusei briefly pressing his lips to Kiryu's in the hug. "Ah, man, I've missed ya."

"Next weekend you'll come visit my campus, right?" Kiryu asks as they walk hand in hand back to Yusei's dorm.

"Of course," Yusei replies, squeezing his hand. God, how he had missed him. It was lonely without him, since during high school they saw each other every day, and on the weekends they were always together. Somewhere along the line, Kiryu had become a part of Yusei's life almost as much as breathing. During the summer they practically lived together, with Crow and Kiryu acting as the annoying pair of friends. Jack wasn't too fond of Kiryu and Crow had a grand total of half a damn to devote to making a concerted effort for getting to know him, but they all got along.

When they get to Yusei's room, they see that Crow has migrated to the floor and is lying down over a manga volume, a bag of Twizzlers lying within easy reach.

"Hey Crow!" Kiryu greets him as he lays his suitcase where it wouldn't disturb the... everything.

"Hey Kiryu," Crow replies without looking up. Yusei prods him with his toe, and Crow groans and rolls over to make eye contact and wave to Kiryu.

"Where's Jack?" Yusei asks.

"I think he went to work out at the gym," Crow shrugs.

"Oooh, is there a pool?" Kiryu asks eagerly, "We have one on my campus but it's being repaired."

"Yeah. Did you bring a bathing suit?"

"Who says I need one?" jokes Kiryu. "Nah, it wouldn't fit into my bag. Do you have an extra?"

"Yeah. Crow, turn around."

Crow makes a face that quite effectively communicates the idea that that would require effort.

"Crow," Yusei says sternly.

"Fine, fine," Crow grumbles as he hauls himself up onto the bed until Yusei taps him on the shoulder for the all-clear. "Hey, remember other people use that pool to, yeah? No pantslessness while in the water."

"No promises~" Kiryu says, and Yusei's face flushes a bit.

* * *

"So, you're Jack's roommate?" Crow asks the person sitting with Jack at the table in the dining hall.

"Yep. My name is Brave. And you are?" the man replies with his perma-smile threatening to break his head in half.

"I'm Crow."

"Nice to meet you!"

They shake hands.

"So, I hear your roomie has his boyfriend over," Brave says conversationally, "Isn't that going to be awkward?"

"Nah, I'm used to it," Crow shrugs, "We all hung out a lot over the summer."

"How long have they been together?"

"Two years too long," Jack scoffs as he sips his coffee.

"I take it you don't like this Kiryu guy, huh?" Brave chuckles, and before Jack can reply Crow jerks his shoulders up.

"Duh. He never got over wanting to do Yusei and missing his chance."

Jack begins choking as a sip of coffee goes down the wrong way, and he slams down the cup. "C-Crow!"

"What? He was gonna find out anyway."

Jack's face turns beet red and Brave laughs.

"No sweat, bro, I won't tell."

Jack grumbles something incoherent and glares at Crow.

"Fuck you, Crow."

"Fuck you too, Jack."

"This is going to be a fun year," Brave chuckles. "I can just feel the camaraderie."

* * *

As they make their way down the hallway of the fourth floor of their dorm, Crow can see something on his doorknob.

"Aww no!" Crow grumbles, "Is that a fucking ribbon?"

"It appears to be a literal 'fucking ribbon'." Jack replies, with a clever grin on his face only slightly contrasting with his dark glare.

"Does that mean your roomie and his man are getting it on?" Brave asks.

"Yeah," Crow sighs, "I'm just hoping they don't roll the wrong way. Almost lost a finger the other day. Can I hang out with you guys for a bit?"

"Sure," Brave tells him. Then he turns to Jack.

"You, uh, okay? Your crush kinda is in there."

Jack shrugs.

"They have been for two years. I've learned to be numb to it."

Crow scowls, mostly at himself. Of course, Jack would be pissed at Kiryu and Yusei getting it on, but somehow he'd never got around to asking how he dealt with it.

"I have Smash Bros. Wanna play?" Brave offers.

"Sounds good," Jack replies as they enter their dorm. "I need to smack something in the face."

* * *

"Aah… Kiryu~"

"Mmm... Yusei~"

They are trying to be quiet because, well, this IS a dorm and other people live here. The whole dorm didn't need to know that they were fucking in this room.

At first they had been in Yusei's bed, but the motions caused the bed to rock and bump against the wall, so they had deviated to the floor.

There wasn't much room and they had to be careful not to make a mess. Crow probably wouldn't be too happy to come back and find a cum stain on his brand new rug.

"[AH! God damn, Kiryu, not so rough there!]" Yusei hisses in Japanese as pain shoots up his spine.

"[Sorry.]"

They usually talked in their native language while fucking. Brains busy with experiencing sex didn't have a lot of energy left to devote to translating thoughts.

Kiryu kisses his neck and bites down.

"[Ah! Fuck! Kiryu, no! I don't want to spend my second week of classes walking around with a giant hickey on my neck!]"

"[You're no fun.]"

"[Do it where no one can see it if you must.]"

But Kiryu sighs and puts his arms around Yusei and changed their positions so that Yusei is sitting on top of him. Yusei winces at the change of position, the lube making it easier on him.

"[Mmmm you have such a nice ass, Yusei,]" Kiryu coos, squeezing Yusei's butt cheeks with both hands. Yusei hisses and bounces on Kiryu's dick, causing him to moan with satisfaction.

"[Fuck… Kiryu…!]"

Kiryu arches his back to get his lips onto Yusei's and they kiss. Yusei curls his fingers into Kiryu's frosty colored hair.

"[I love you,]" he says between kisses, breath catching in between rhythmic jerks of their bodies.

"[I love you too,]" Kiryu replies.

* * *

"It's almost midnight. Are they done in there yet?" Jack snaps viciously at Crow.

"Hey, don't take this out on me!" Crow snaps back, "And how would I know? I've been in here with you!"

"Go check."

"You go check!"

"Yusei's your roommate. You go check."

"That eager to kick me out, huh?"

"I'm tired of having to look at your ugly mug," Jack snarls.

Crow sighs. So much for 'being numb to it'. He takes out his phones and texts Yusei, 'You two done in there yet?'

A minute later Crow gets the reply, 'Yeah. Sorry.'

He sighs, snapping his phone shut.

"They're done. I guess I'll head back and you can get your precious beauty sleep," Crow mocks Jack.

"Fuck you, Crow. Goodnight."

When Crow enters his room he removes the ribbon and throws it on Yusei's desk. Yusei and Kiryu are cuddling under the covers of their bed. They seem to have clothes on.

"Hey Crow," Kiryu yawns, and Yusei looks at Crow with apologetic eyes.

"Hey. You didn't cream anywhere, did you?" He's inspecting the floor.

"Nah. We were neat about it."

"Are you two going to bed now?"

"I think so," Yusei replies. Kiryu pulls him closer and kisses his cheek. Yusei wraps his arms around him and snuggles up to him.

"Uurrraaeeeurgh," Crow says informatively. "Get a room, lovebirds. One that I don't have to live in."

Kiryu just smirks and kisses Yusei's cheek.

"Goodnight you guys."

" 'Night."

* * *

"Kiryu, no."

"Come on, he's sleeping."

"I'm sleeping."

"No you're not."

"Well, I was and I would like to be."

"But I'm still horny."

/Are you fucking kidding me?/ Crow thinks. He wonders what he's done in his life to deserve this.

"Kiryu, stop. Stop! I mean it!" But Yusei is chuckling.

Crow can hear Kiryu planting wet, sloppy kisses god knows where on Yusei, and he pulls his pillow over his ears.

"Guys, go the fuck to sleep," Crow hisses.

"Oops, did we wake you?" Kiryu asks innocently.

"Yes you fucking woke me, now fucking go back to bed."

"Woah, attitude Crow."

"Sorry, Crow," Yusei says hastily before Crow can reply. "Come on, Kiryu, sleep. We'll continue this in the morning when Crow's not here."

Kiryu grunts.

"Fine."

More kissing sounds, then silence.

* * *

"So they seriously tried gettin' nasty while you were still in the room?!" Brave is laughing.

"Shut up. It was fucking awkward. And at least Yusei has some control over Kiryu."

"Are they fucking now?"

"I don't fucking know! God, I don't want to go back there."

"I am so glad you're rooming with him and not me," Jack says, sipping some tea.

"A-fuck you, Jack," Crow growls, head still planted forehead-first on the desk.

"Hey, is that them?"

Sure enough, Yusei and Kiryu were approaching them, hand in hand.

"Hey guys," Kiryu greets them. Crow glares and Jack doesn't acknowledge they exist.

"You must be Yusei and Kiryu," Brave says heartily, "I'm Brave, Jack's roommate."

"Must be pretty 'brave' to room with Jack," Kiryu teases.

"Suck it, Kiryu," Jack says with venom in his voice as he tries to finish waking up.

"There's an omelet station over here," Yusei says, motioning with his head.

"We'll be back."

* * *

"Do you really have to leave?"

"Sadly, yes."

Yusei and Kiryu start their goodbyes, embracing tightly.

"I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you more."

Crow gags.

Finally, after many many many last hugs, sneaked kisses, forehead-presses and dramatic hand-holding moments , Crow manages to crowbar the two dolts apart and shove Kiryu onto the bus, wanting to get home before the dorms closed.

"Oh come on, Yusei! You've been with Kiryu practically everyday for the past two years!" Jack huffs, "You can deal with a week of no Kiryu. Besides, you Skype or call him like every night!"

"It's not the same without him," Yusei moans, "You don't understand."

Jack shakes his head in disbelief. This was what ticked him off the most; the way Kiryu could reduce Yusei to a fourteen-year-old girl.

"You're unbelievable."

Yusei just gives a heavy sigh and takes out his phone- probably to text Kiryu.

"Oh no, you have to wait an entire week to have Kiryu's dick shoved inside you again," Crow said sarcastically. "Will the torture for our brave hero never end?"

"Shut up, Crow."

"Well, you two are awful. I was sexiled every night Kiryu was here!"

"Sorry."

"You owe me. At least you're going to his school next weekend."

Jack scoffs and leaves Yusei and Crow's room.

"What's wrong with him?" Yusei asks Crow, gazing at the door Jack just left through. Crow just shrugs. He had a sinking feeling that Jack wasn't going to be able to keep it in much longer, and then the orange-hair would have to live with two sullen, annoying friends for half the trimester. Oh, how he was looking forward to that...


	2. Stop 2

"Hey Bruno, I'm off to a party."

"Really? First weekend of classes and you're already going out?" Bruno doesn't really have a 'sarcastic' tone. His ability to sound petulant-as-fuck makes up for it.

"You act surprised."

Bruno sighs. He kind of wants to stay in and watch a movie with his twin brother Anthony - who preferred to be called Antinomy. But Antinomy loved to go out, party, get wasted, and get laid.

Bruno was pretty much the opposite. He liked to stay in and watch movies, play video games, educate himself on a great many topics and spend quality time with his brother, which was probably why he didn't have any friends.

Antinomy had tried countless times to get Bruno into partying. He even tried multiple times to get Bruno laid - a feat from which Sisyphus would have quailed away from -, but Bruno just wasn't interested in sex or booze or "fun in general" as Antinomy put it.

"Am I going to be sexiled tonight?" Bruno asks delicately.

"I don't know. Maybe."

Bruno makes a face.

"Come on, Bru. If you went out and got some, you wouldn't be so disgusted by it."

"I don't want any."

"Are you asexual?"

"What?"

"Do you even masturbate?"

"ANTHONY!"

Bruno's face flushed a deep crimson.

"No, I'm serious." Antinomy sits down.

"You can tell me anything. I don't judge. Maybe I can help you."

"Help me masturbate?!"

"Well if you just haven't found the right kink yet I know some good-"

"No. Please. Stop."

"There's nothing to be ashamed of if you're asexual. It is a real thing, you know."

"I'm not asexual. At least, I don't think I am..."

Antinomy claps Bruno's shoulder.

"You just need to find the right person then. It's okay, I'll have twice the amount of sex to make up for the sex you're not having."

"Gee, thanks."

* * *

Bruno stares at his phone. He's lonely. He had given his number to that cute guy in his Mechanics class, but no texts or calls so far. What had he expected? That's what he got for actually trying.

/Maybe I'll go swimming or something.../ he thinks with a sigh, getting up. It was better than doing nothing.

* * *

"Oh! Yusei! I didn't expect to see you here," Bruno says as he dips his feet into the pool.

"I could say the same thing," Yusei replies cheerily.

"You know this guy, Yusei?" a pale boy with frosty blue hair asks, wrapping his arms around Yusei's neck from behind, surfacing stealthily. Bruno's stomach turns, and he doesn't know why.

"Yeah, he's a classmate of mine. Bruno, this is Kiryu. Kiryu, Bruno. Kiryu's my boyfriend. He's visiting from a different college." Yusei smiles sheepishly, but his jaw is locked into place. He was out, most people knew he was out, but there was always the niggling fear, surfacing when he mentioned it openly.

"Oh. That's nice," Bruno makes himself say with a fake smile back. Great. The one person he was actually interested in was taken. Suddenly Bruno doesn't feel like swimming anymore.

Kiryu dunks Yusei's head under the water.

"C'mon, drown a bit with us, Bruno," Kiryu offers with a slasher's grin as Yusei surfaces, spluttering.

"Kiryu, don't do that," Yusei coughs, giving his boyfriend a face.

"Oh, quit being a baby."

Bruno just wants to leave. However, he forces himself to smile and say, "Fine," and to hop in. The water is pretty warm and doesn't even cause Bruno to break out in goosebumps. He hovers in the water, staring blankly at the sky, when a sudden vice grips at his foot and yanks downwards.

Bruno's eyes snap open and he flails against the dragging, water splashing every which way. The vice disappears after a few seconds - and Bruno thinks he might have felt his foot connect with something that yielded - and the blue-haired man can push off the bottom of the pool and break the surface. Sweet air floods his lungs, his limbs moving him through the water to grip the edge and it's reassuring solidity.

"Kiryu! The hell was that for?"

Bruno turns to see Kiryu laughing and splashing Yusei, who is shielding himself from the spray, a 'not the time' look etched on his face. Bruno doesn't know if he should intervene or not, but Yusei seems to be really pissed off.

"[Kiryu! Seriously! Stop!]"

Bruno blinks. Was that Japanese?

Whatever foreign language that had been, it causes Kiryu to stop and pout at his annoyed boyfriend.

"[You're no fun.]"

Yusei looks really mad. His lips are thinned to form a dangerous looking frown and his eyes are narrowed and sharp enough to slice through stone.

"[You're unbelievable, you know that? Haven't you heard of a thing called drowning?]"

Bruno can't understand what he's saying but he knows by the tone that Yusei is pissed, a tinge of happiness at the fact that this guy was defending him. Then again, he did almost just drown, so maybe he's reading too much into things. He pretends to be busy watching other people while his ears are perked to the tones of Yusei and Kiryu's secret language.

"[Come on, Yusei, lighten up! Dude looked like he needed a dunk to splash away the sad.]"

"[It damn well was not just horsing around! You just up and tried to drag him under!]"

"[All right, chill, I'm sorry, okay?]"

"[No. You always do this, Kiryu. You step out of line and put people in real danger, and try to laugh it off.]"

"[Come on, let's not do this here. Your friend there is probably feeling awkward hearing us bickering in Japanese.]"

Yusei makes a face that clearly says 'you're an ass' and then turns to Bruno.

"Sorry," he says in English, "Kiryu is just being an ass."

"Yusei is just being a stiff," Kiryu replies lazily, swimming around. "And not even in the fun way..." Yusei shoots him a dirty look. Bruno doesn't know what to say, mouth opening and closing wordlessly.

"I won't splash you, I promise," Bruno ends up saying, which makes Yusei smile in relief. Maybe Kiryu could break his record of two weekends without the threat of an assault charge. Bruno's heart thumps but Kiryu's satisfied smirk disappears.

* * *

"[I don't like that guy, Yusei.]"

"[What? Why?]"

"[I just don't like his vibe.]"

Bruno is drying off and he can hear Yusei and his boyfriend talking quietly in Japanese. He wonders how hard it would be to learn. Maybe he should take some online courses.

"[You don't like him because he wasn't an ass to me and you were and you pissed me off.]"

Bruno steals a glance over and Kiryu is holding a towel around Yusei's shoulders. They are glaring into each other's eyes intensely.

"[I just don't like him, okay? I have a bad feeling.]"

"[You don't like him because you think he's a threat. Just for once, a guy who acts non-violent towards me might be straight and just looking for a friend, for fuck's sake.]"

Yusei ducks out of Kiryu's towel hold and walks over to Bruno.

"Sorry about him. I'll see you later though, Bruno." He claps Bruno's shoulder and then walks back to Kiryu, who shoots a nasty glare at Bruno.

* * *

It's four in the morning when Antinomy stumbles in shit-faced, his clothes looking as though someone had tried taking them off without knowing how to take clothes off someone. Bruno dryly looks up from his flickering DS screen.

" 'sup Bruno," Ant nods to him, tripping over his own feet.

"You'd better not throw up in our dorm," Bruno says without looking up.

"I'm not gonna, silly~" he begins giggling as he falls into his bed smiling stupidly.

"I had da besttt blow job-"

"I really don't want to hear about what kind of sexual favors you did or had done to you," Bruno says, a little harshly.

"WOAH. Woah. Woah. ...Woah. Wazze matter wiz yew?" Ant slurs.

"Nothing."

"Yerina baaaaad mood Brunago."

Bruno doesn't answer.

"Yew can tell meeee~ Yew kin tell me 'needing. I looooove yew~"

"You're drunk."

"Sooooo?"

And before he knew what was happening, Ant was smothering him in drunk hug and drunk pecks on the cheek.

Bruno tries to shift away from the affection that was shifting far beyond brotherly. "Ant, stop."

"Nodden till yew tell me wats wrong~" Ant says drunkenly, continuing to kiss Bruno's face.

"FINE. Fine." And Bruno's cheeks flush.

"S-So there's this cute guy in my Mechanics class and I gave him my number but he never called and I saw him at the pool earlier and he was with his boyfriend." Bruno doesn't look at Ant but suddenly he straightens up and comes out of his drunken state.

"So you like this guy and he's taken?"

"...Yeah."

Antinomy moves so that he's sitting across from Bruno and looking at him.

"Does his boyfriend go here?"

"No, he was visiting."

"Well, that gives you the upper hand."

"Huh?"

Bruno takes a moment to put down his DS safely before the next wild hug knocked it onto the floor.

"You will see this guy more than he will see his boyfriend. Plus, you're in a class together."

"Actually we have every class together besides our FSP."

"Even better!"

"And I think they had a bit of a fight at the pool," Bruno says hopefully.

"See? It's not so hopeless after all! Bruno, I'm gonna help you get into this guy's pants if it's the last-"

"I don't want to be in his pants!" Bruno huffs defiantly, "I just... I want a relationship."

There's a pause as what meagre brainpower drunken Antinomy possesses is digesting this idea of being near someone without dry-humping them when both parties are interested.

"You're so weird, Bruno," Antinomy sighs, getting up and flopping back down on his bed,"Are you sure we're related?"

"Well, considering we came out of the same uterus within five minutes of each other."

"Why would you want a relationship when you can just sleep with whoever you want whenever you want?"

"Why would you want to have sex with a bunch of people you don't know when you can cuddle into the arms of someone you love?"

"You're so weird."

"You're weird."

Bruno picks the lit DS back up.

"So what's the name of this guy you like?"

"I'm not telling you."

"Oh come on~"

"No."

And no matter how many times Antinomy asked, Bruno refused to tell him, fearing that he'd come back from class and Yusei would be tied to his bed with a note on his chest reading, 'You're welcome *heart* -Ant'.

* * *

The next day Ant spends in bed with a nasty hangover. Like always, Bruno has to take care of him. He goes to the C-Store and buys microwavable soup for his brother. Of course, because fate hates him, he spots Yusei in the C-Store getting a milkshake.

"Hey Yusei," Bruno says casually when they line up together.

"Oh hey, Bruno," Yusei replies warmly, "What's up?" Bruno twigs that something's up from the warmth, considering Yusei's usual mood of iron-hard concentration during lectures.

"My brother has a huge hangover so I'm getting him soup."

"That's very nice of you. Does your brother go here?"

"He's my roommate. We're twins."

"Oh, that's cool."

"So uh... where's your boyfriend?" Bruno asks, willing his face not to turn red.

"He left this morning. He has a four hour train ride ahead."

"Ah."

There's an awkward silence that ensues. Bruno isn't sure what to say next.

"Hey, do you have the textbook for Physics yet?" Yusei suddenly asks.

"Huh? Yeah. I got it over the summer."

"Could I borrow it for the assignment? Did you do it yet?"

"I haven't done it yet. Did you want to do it together in the library or something?" Bruno asks hopefully.

"That sounds good. How about after dinner? I kind of just got a milkshake and I can't bring it into the library."

"That's fine."

"Oh, I have your number, so I'll just text you when I'm ready."

"Cool."

Bruno left the C-Store with a spring in his step, the containers of soup in his bag hitting his leg.

* * *

"Did you understand this third part here?"

"Yeah. What don't you get?"

"What formula goes with that?"

"This one. See, they want you to substitute from the one two questions back..."

Bruno and Yusei are in the back of the library on the fourth floor, poring over their text book. Bruno's heart seems to have been replaced by a jackhammer, though fortunately he can blame the redness on his face on the heating being turned up too high.

"Does this look right?"

"Yeah, that's what I wrote."

They spent two and half hours on their work. When they were finished it was early evening and the sky was pretty dark.

"So you live in the Towers, right?" Yusei asks as the walk back towards the freshman dorms.

"Yeah. We don't have our own bathroom like you guys in Sunwise since we're not in suites. But we do have a sink in our room."

"Really? Cool! Could I see your room?"

Bruno's heart catches in his throat. Yusei wanted to see his room? Oh god, what if Ant was there and guessed that the guy he had talked about last night was Yusei? Antinomy could be really embarrassing sometimes. ...Make that 'all the time'.

"Uh, sure!" Bruno swallows.

Because it was past 8 o'clock, Bruno had to sign Yusei in. This operation required the showing of school IDs, name, room number, and phone number exchange. Yusei's card was taken and he was given a pass. To get his ID back he'd need to return the pass.

They took the elevator to the 9th floor. Bruno opened his door. Antinomy was watching a movie in bed.

"Hey Ant," Bruno said, and Antinomy looked up.

"Hey. Who's this?"

"This is my friend Yusei. He lives in Sunwise and wanted to see what our dorms look like."

"Ah."

Yusei waved to him.

"Hey, I'm Anthony, but everyone calls my Antinomy. I'm Bruno's twin brother."

Yusei bows, and his face when he comes back up is smiling brightly. "Nice to meet you, Antinomy. Wow, this room is bigger than mine! And you have an actual light on the ceiling!"

"You don't?" Bruno asks.

"Nope. We had to bring all our own lights."

"Dang."

Antinomy is trying to catch Bruno's eye for some reason, but Bruno is purposely ignoring him. /He knows... god damn it./

"Your desks are really nice too. Ours are smaller."

He kind of looks jealous.

"So Yusei. How did you meet my brother?" Antinomy asks, and Bruno's face grows hot with anxiety.

"We're in all the same classes. Same major, you know?" Yusei says as he flops down on Bruno's bed.

"Oh really?" Bruno sees his brother give him a suggestive look.

/Shit. Shiiiiiiiiiit. He knows. He fucking knows./

"Do you have a girlfriend?" Ant asks playfully, and Bruno wants to crawl into a hole and disappear.

"No. I uh... I have a boyfriend." Yusei's cheeks turn a light shade of pink. There it was again, the catch and check before the admission. Yusei stares at the ground, shoulders almost bracing against the words.

"Oh. Does he go here?"

Yusei visibly deflates, and as he exhales, Antinomy glances with a raised eyebrow at Bruno, who gives him a warning glare. "No. He goes to college in another state."

Yusei looks a bit sullen. Bruno wants to die.

"That must be hard on you two, huh?"

"Yeah, it's hard. But we text and Skype and he came over this weekend. I'm going to visit him next weekend."

"Listen, Yusei," Ant sits up, "I have a friend who had a similar situation to you. I won't sugar coat it; it ended badly because the distance was just too strenuous. They stopped trusting each other. They fell in love with new people. Do you think you and your man will survive this?"

Bruno is now contemplating suicide.

"I… I know it will be hard... But we've been through a lot already. I think we'll be okay. Thanks for the advice though." Yusei smiles at Ant.

/Surely I'm already dead now.../ Bruno thinks.

* * *

"Just what the hell are you trying to pull?!"

"What?"

Bruno is very angry.

"You just HAD to say something, didn't you?!"

"Hey, I'm helping you out!" Ant snaps back defensively, "I planted the seed of doubt, and now it's only a matter of time until-"

"I may like him but I don't want to break up a perfectly happy couple!"

"You said they were fighting yesterday."

"So? Couples fight."

"Trust me. They aren't going to last long."

Bruno frowns, the sick devil of schadenfreude dancing on his shoulder.

"Don't do something like that again, okay? That wasn't fair."

"Fine, whatever."

Bruno makes a soft frustrated noise and flops on his bed. He takes out his phone and texts Yusei "Sorry about my brother. Don't listen to him. I think you and Kiryu make a great couple!"

A few minutes later, Yusei texts back, "thanks :)"

Bruno sighs and shuts his phone. He likes Yusei but he won't get in the way of his relationship. That's final.

"But, he might need a study partner at some point," Bruno muses to himself.

Antinomy overhears and pokes his head out of the fridge where he's burrowing for liquor to take on his nightly tour. "I didn't know he was a Bio major," he adds cheekily.

"Oh shut up!" Bruno throws a pillow at him.


	3. Stop 3

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: SORRY FOR THE DELAY! I SWITCHED EDITORS. DON'T WORRY THERE ARE 9 CHAPTERS WRITTEN SO FAR AND THEY JUST NEED EDITING. ALSO I'M GOING TO UPDATE MY OLD FICS TOO FROM LIKE TWO/THREE YEARS AGO IT'S JUST TAKING A WHILE. THANKS FOR BEING PATIENT!**

**Title: **Last Train

**Series:** Yugioh 5D's

**Type of AU:** College

**Author:** Sango Tsubasa

**Editor: **Lydia

**Rating: **MA, not that that has ever stopped minors ever.

**Summery: **College is where people experience life changing events that last their entire lives. See how it changes Yusei, Crow, Jack and the rest as they struggle to balance love, growing and mindless faffing about as they take the last train in their lives as teens and arrive at their last stop as young adults.

**Disclaimer:** This is a fanfic so obviously I don't own the characters. Also NSFW don't say I didn't warn you. I should probably mention that this will contain yaoi, yuri, het, and it may have certain triggers in the future but I'll try to warn everyone when that happens.

* * *

**Stop 3:**

Somehow, Crow and Brave quickly become best friends. Their jokes flow one after another, each sending the other into a fit of laughter more gleeful than the one before it. They even manage to make a few that were just between the two of them. From Super Smash Brothers to fiction novels with the most ridiculous premises to whatever hit comedy graced the theaters, there is little they don't agree on. Plainly put, the two are a lot alike. Consequently, Jack finds himself hanging out with Yusei alone most of the time, and he doesn't mind it at all.

"Hey, Yusei, know what we should do?" Jack asks one lazy Crow-free afternoon.

"What?" Yusei keeps to his schoolwork, books and papers laid out in front of him.

Jack isn't sure what he's working on, but whatever it is looks incredibly boring. Not like his genius idea for how they should spend the rest of their day.

"Let's go fly a kite."

Yusei looks to his right, where Jack is sitting on his bed. "Seriously? And where are we going to find a kite?"

"Brave has one," Jacks answers quickly, maybe a little too enthusiastically. "I'm sure he wouldn't mind if we borrow it."

Yusei raises an eyebrow. "Only if it's okay with him. That means actually asking permission, Jack, okay?"

"I know." Jack quirks his lips and whips out his phone. Of course he knows to ask before taking things! Most of the time. He sends a text to request permission for the kite, and it only takes a few minutes for Brave to reply with an a-okay.

"Got permission. Let's go." Jack hops off the bed.

"Hold on, let me just finish this page." Yusei is still diligently finishing his... whatever he's working on.

"Fine, I'll get the kite in the meantime." Jack practically leaps out of the room.

* * *

"Jack, I am not flying that."

"Don't be such a pussy."

"I'm gay, not a twelve year old girl."

"There's nothing wrong with ponies."

"Are you fucking serious right now?"

Jack is holding a _My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic_ kite and doesn't seem the least bit embarrassed by the girlishly stylized, pastel-colored equines emblazed on the front.

"Lots of guys like this show," he counts, unwilling to let Yusei's indignation damper his pride. "They're called Bronies. Brave is one. He made me watch a few eps and the show is actually pretty good."

"I don't know who you are or what you did with Jack, but I'd like him back please." Yusei is not the least bit amused.

"Shut up. The show is bad ass."

"I'm going to slap you until you come back to planet earth."

"Are you going to fly a fucking kite with me or not?!" Jack hisses.

"Fine, fine. But I don't know you."

"What the fuck ever."

They walk outside, Jack holding the pony kite and Yusei pretending he doesn't know him. However, much to his surprise, a number of manly looking guys were noticing the kite and praising Jack for it—not even sarcastically—and asking Jack questions like 'Who's your favorite pony?' and 'Oh my god, where'd you get that kite?!'

"See, Yusei? It's completely socially acceptable for a grown man to like a show about ponies and friendship."

"I think Kiryu baked me special cookies."

"Oh, fuck off."

Once they get to a clear area, Jack untangles the kite string and begins running around trying to catch the wind, but the wind isn't exactly reciprocating.

"Do you even know how to use that?" Yusei snorts.

"I know how to fly a damn kite, Yusei." But after ten minutes of flailing and repeatedly running the poor thing into the ground, it becomes apparent that Jack doesn't know jack about kites or how to fly them.

"Alright, I'm sick of watching you embarrass yourself. Hand it over, Jack." Yusei holds out his hand.

"No! I can do it myself!" Jack huffs, waving around the piece of plastic violently.

"You're going to break it, and then Brave will be pissed. Give it to me."

"No! I can do this!"

"You're being a child."

"Fuck you."

Jack continues waving around the kite frantically until Yusei forcibly grabs his hand and changes his position. Jack barely breathes, the unexpected contact putting him into a momentary state of shock.

"You hold it like this," Yusei huffs, rearranging Jack's hands and fingers.

"I-I don't need your help!" Jack splutters, yanking his hands away from Yusei.

"Ugh. Fine. I'll hold the kite for you, then, and help you get it in the air."

Yusei strolls to the kite dragging on the ground and picks it up, looking at Jack expectantly.

"Well? Start running!"

Jack scoffs but then begins to jog, Yusei following behind him. When the time is right, Yusei lets go, and the kite soars into the air.

"There we go!" Yusei exclaims with a smile, and Jack's heart thumps hard. He can't help but love Yusei's smile. He is so distracted by it, in fact, that he trips over a rock and falls flat on his face, the kite reel flying out of his hand.

Yusei shoots forward and grabs the reel with a magnificent leap. He is able to keep the kite airborne and snicker at Jack's fall at the same time.

"Shut up, Yusei," Jack snarls.

"Jack, you're a child."

"Shut it."

* * *

When Jack and Yusei get back from kite flying—or, in Jack's case, failing at kite flying—Jack returns the kite to his room. Or, at least, that was the plan. He sees something tied on his doorknob.

"How did Brave get my sex ribbon?" Yusei asks.

"How did Brave get a sex partner?!" Jack exclaims.

"Wait, wasn't he with Crow earlier?"

"Yeah. I wonder where Crow went—"

They look at each other.

"No. Way." Jack hisses.

Yusei bursts into laughter. Despite Jack's highly apparently rage and frustration, Yusei can't find it in himself to stop. They retreat back to Yusei's room to wait for the storm to pass.

Crow returns an hour later, upbeat as ever. Maybe a little more tousled than usual.

"Hey guys, how was kite flying?" he asks, seeing the two others sitting on Yusei's bed.

"Gee, I don't know, Crow. How was my roommate's dick?" Jack says sarcastically.

The expression on Crow's face changes in a flash. "How'd you—?"

"It doesn't take a rocket scientist to put two and two together," Jack snaps.

"Alright. So I'm sleeping with Brave. So what?" Crow huffs.

"So what? _So what?!_ That's my fucking roommate!"

"And your point is…?"

"Yeah, Jack. What's the problem?" Yusei asks, genuinely confused.

"What's the—What's the _problem!?_" Jack seems to swell up. "You're fucking my roommate, that's what!"

Crow snarls and glares daggers. "What does that have to do with you?!" he spits in Jack's face.

"H-He's my roommate!"

"That is _not_ an answer!"

Jack growls angrily and snatches up the kite, storming out of the room.

"What the hell is his problem?!" Crow huffs, and Yusei shrugs.

"I don't have a problem with you and Brave," Yusei tells him.

"Thanks, Yusei," Crow sighs, "I'm gonna… go take a shower…" He gets up.

_Could Jack possibly have a crush on Crow?_ Yusei thinks.

* * *

Jack and Crow don't speak for the entire week, though Brave seems to have no problem with Jack.

"I'm going to Kiryu's this weekend," Yusei says to Crow Thursday morning as they are getting ready for class. "Please try to get along with Jack."

"Jack's the one with the fucking problem!" Crow snaps.

"I'm just saying. Because I won't be here to be the medium between you two," Yusei explains.

Yusei leaves right after his class, considering he doesn't have any Friday classes. After his last class, Crow sits in his empty dorm feeling lonely. He texts Brave. "I'm lonely. Can you come over?"

Brave responds a few minutes later. "Jack and I are working out right now. I'll come by after I shower ;)"

Crow sighs and shuts his phone. He won't admit it, but he kind of misses Jack. Why was he so mad about him getting with Brave? He certainly doesn't have a crush on either of them, considering he's been pining after Yusei for, like, ever. So, what was his deal?

* * *

Jack didn't know why he had gotten so angry over finding out Crow and Brave were together. He decides it's because Crow is his best friend and Brave is his roommate, yet neither of them had said anything, and he had to find out by catching them in the act. Over the course of the week, he comes to realize that that isn't it. And he certainly doesn't have feelings for either of them. He likes Yusei! So what's the problem?

Jack spends some time Thursday afternoon between Music History and voice lessons staring at the fountain in the science complex. Brave had gone to get them lunch, as well as to visit Crow for a bit. Jack's stomach churns.

_Stupid Brave and Crow…_ Jack finds himself thinking. _How is that even fair? They just met last week, and already they're kissing and spending nights together, and I've known Yusei for _years_, and we've never so much as held hands and—_

Jack gasps. That was it! Jack is jealous of the relationship itself, not them! He jumps up, but then sits back down. He'll tell Crow later. He'll let him have some time with Brave.

By the time Brave arrives with food, Jack has fallen into a light nap.

"You should really apologize to Crow, you know," he says, handing Jack a Caesar chicken wrap. Jack takes it.

"I finally figured out what's bothering me," he says, taking a bite of the wrap.

"Oh? Please don't tell me you have a crush on me. Or my boyfriend," Brave smirks.

"No, it's not that. Don't flatter yourself," Jack huffs, "I'm just jealous that you two got together so quickly. Like, I've known Yusei for over half my life and have been chasing after him all these years… yet you've known Crow two weeks and have already gone all the way. It's not fair."

"Aww, sorry bro." Brave claps him on the back, "With Crow, I just… It was an instant connection." He shrugs. "Come on, voice lessons in ten minutes."

* * *

There's a knock on the door, and it wakes Crow up from his nap. Thinking it's Brave, he opens the door, only to find Jack.

"Oh. It's you. What do _you_ want?" Crow snaps, "Where's Brave?"

"I need to talk to you, Crow," Jack says, pushing his way inside. Crow's stomach drops.

_Oh no. Oh no. It's happening, isn't it? Jack has been upset because he has a crush on Brave and now he's here to tell me that he confessed to him and now he and Brave are together!_ Crow's mind races to the worst senario he can think of.

"Why do you look so scared? Jesus, Crow, I'm here to apologize, not to chop your fucking head off!"

Crow instantly relaxes and breathes out a sigh of relief.

"Thank god."

"What's with that? What did you think I was here for?!"

"I thought you were going to tell me that you have a crush on Brave and you told him and he was going to ditch me for you," Crow says weakly, sitting down.

"Wow, paranoid much?"

"Just a little."

Jack scoffs and shakes his head.

"_Anyway_, I came here to apologize for my behavior this week. I finally figured out what made me so upset."

"Oh, really? Do tell," Crow says, the life coming back into him. He folds his arms expectantly.

Jack glowers at him before straightening up and pushing his pride away. "I was jealous. That you and Brave got together so quickly and I… I haven't gotten anywhere with Yusei and I've known him more than half our lives… I'm sorry." His cheeks glow a little.

"Really? That's why? You big baby," Crow sighs, "Fuck, Jack, I'm sorry. It's not like I expected my relationship with Brave to escalate this quickly. It just… happened."

"Yeah. I know. I'm sorry for being an ass."

"Apology accepted."

"So… wanna watch a movie? Brave will be there. I mean, he lives in my room."

"Yeah, sure. First, I haven't eaten yet. Dinner?"

* * *

Crow had not been expecting to be woken up by his door opening at ten thirty in the morning on Saturday. He hadn't expected Yusei back until Sunday night. Which was why he and Brave are shamelessly naked in bed.

"Yusei? Why are you back so early?" Crow asks, and Brave moans a little and snuggles into his chest.

"Because Kiryu's a fucking ass, that's why," he snarls, throwing his bag on the floor and flopping down on his bed. He lets out a loud scream of frustration into his mattress.

"What happened this time?" Crow asks, wrapping an arm around Brave.

"More like what _didn't_ happen, as in, I didn't top like I keep asking him to, and he just fucking manipulates me into doing what he wants! I'm fucking sick of his shit! I have needs, too!" Yusei sits up to glare at Crow, who shrugs.

"Are you going to break up with him?" Crow asks.

"I don't know," Yusei sighs, "I do need a break from him for a bit though." Yusei kicks off his boots and sheds his jacket so he can crawl into bed.

"Goodnight."

"Uh… good night, Yusei…"

Needless to say, Jack is delighted to see Yusei back so soon and to hear that he had quarreled with Kiryu. And Yusei is happy that Jack and Crow were speaking again, even if Jack wouldn't tell him what had caused him to stop talking to Crow in the first place.


	4. Stop 4

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: SORRY FOR THE DELAY AGAIN! I SWITCHED EDITORS, AGAIN. HOPEFULLY THE CURSE IS BROKEN NOW.**

**Title: **Last Train

**Series:** Yugioh 5D's

**Type of AU:** College

**Author:** Sango Tsubasa

**Editor: **Noel ( )

**Rating: **MA, not that that has ever stopped minors ever.

**Summery: **College is where people experience life changing events that last their entire lives. See how it changes Yusei, Crow, Jack and the rest as they struggle to balance love, growing and mindless faffing about as they take the last train in their lives as teens and arrive at their last stop as young adults.

**Disclaimer:** This is a fanfic so obviously I don't own the characters. Also NSFW don't say I didn't warn you. I should probably mention that this will contain yaoi, yuri, het, and it may have certain triggers in the future but I'll try to warn everyone when that happens.

* * *

**Stop 4:**

Antinomy never met anyone who angered him as much as Placido did.

He hated everything about him; his thigh-high high heeled boots, the hood he always wore- what was he hiding, huh?!- the dumb metal horns sticking up out of his head, that flashy green jewel he had on his forehead- over his left eyebrow, what was up with that? Now, these were just things about his appearance that pissed him off. What REALLY made him mad was Placido himself. He was completely full of himself! He would criticize everyone's work and then get really defensive when his own work was critiqued! And the way he talked… he talked as if he was the most important person on the fucking planet! And he was always wearing a look on his face as if he were judging everyone and looking down on them! It pissed Antinomy off to no end.

But the thing that Placido did to make Antinomy write him number one on his shitlist was the very first thing Placido ever said to him. Antinomy and Placido were sitting at easels next to each other and Antinomy had asked him if he could borrow his eraser, to which Placido sneered,

"Sorry, I can't hear you over how loud your glasses are."

Antinomy had been so shocked that he just stared at Placido in disbelief. And before he knew what was happening he had shot back, "You're one to talk, stripper boots!"

Placido's smirk instantly changed into a scowl. And it was in that moment that the two boys decided that they were destined to be mortal enemies.

* * *

Bruno likes Mondays. He gets to spend almost all day with Yusei. However, this Monday Yusei was in a bad mood.

From the moment Bruno sees the look on Yusei's face when he enters the classroom, Bruno can tell something's up.

"What's wrong, Yusei?" Bruno asks as the other male sits down.

"Nothing. Just my boyfriend being a giant dick," he mutters, and Bruno's heart flutters hopefully.

"What happened?"

"It's a long story."

A long story that Yusei didn't seem to want to share.

"Alright," Bruno says, and he doesn't push the issue any further.

Nevertheless, Yusei seems distracted and doesn't seem like he's concentrating on the notes at all. Bruno makes sure to take extra careful notes so that Yusei can borrow them. He doesn't mind at all.

"Hey," Yusei says with fifteen minutes of class to go, "Can I… would you mind if-?"

"You can borrow them," Bruno says quickly.

"Oh, I meant… I was going to ask if I could come over after class," Yusei says in a somewhat quiet voice.* "I don't want to go back to my room."

"Oh. Sure," Bruno replies, his cheeks burning slightly.

"The notes would be nice too," Yusei adds.

"Of course," Bruno says with a sympathetic smile, passing his notebook over.

* * *

When Bruno brings Yusei back to his to room Antinomy is there and he looks angry.

"Listen to this Bruno!" Ant bursts out as soon as the door opens. "Oh, hi Yusei," he says in a slightly calmer voice. Yusei gives Antinomy a little wave.

"What's up, Ant?" asks Bruno, who can tell that a huge Antinomy bitch fest is about to unfurl.

"Okay, so," Ant begins as Bruno and Yusei sit down on Bruno's bed, "I sit next to this guy named Placido in drawing class, right? He always wears this white hood and these metal horn things and had this weird green jewel thing right here-" Ant points to the corresponding spot on his own face.

"Right," Bruno says, so Ant knows he's paying attention.

"Okay. Well, you know I never judge by looks. But this guy- All I did was ask to borrow his fucking eraser, and you know what he said to me?! He said, 'Sorry, I can't hear you over how loud your glasses are.' CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT?!"

Yusei snickers at this but Bruno elbows him a bit hard, which shuts him up.

"That's awful," Bruno agrees, and Antinomy is so mad he's pacing around.

"The fucking nerve!" Ant hisses, sitting down on his bed. "He wears fucking high heeled thigh high stripper boots and he makes fun of MY glasses?!"

"Well they are-" Yusei starts to say, but Bruno elbows him again to shut him up.

"I'm sorry, Ant," Bruno says, and he gets up to hug his brother. "Calm down though. You're shaking. You're going to make yourself sick. You know how you get."

Ant lets out a distressed noise and leans into his brother's comfort. Yusei has a confused look on his face. Why was he getting so worked up over a dumb comment about his glasses? Yusei had to agree that they were a bit loud. They were big, like a visor, and bright red. Honestly, if someone was going to wear something like that then they should be ready to be teased about it.

"I need a milkshake," Ant sighs, and he gets up. "I'll be back."

Once he leaves Yusei says, "Don't you think that was a bit of an overreaction? I mean, they are-"

"Ant is very sensitive about his glasses," Bruno explains. "He can't see the color red without them. As an artist, it's shameful for him. There's a special pigment in the glass that lets him see red and colors with red in them. And yes, even though the glass is all red, looking through it he can see just like we can- all the colors."

"Oh. Wow. I've never heard of that before," Yusei says, now feeling a bit bad that he had agreed with the guy who had made Antinomy upset.

"He's a special case. One of three in the entire world," Bruno tells him. "It was very unlucky for him, since he was born with artistic talent that requires him to need to see red."

"That's so weird."

"Yeah. Just don't…. say anything about his glasses, okay?"

"Okay."

* * *

The entire week Antinomy came back from class in a rage. Once he even came back in tears, and Antinomy rarely cried sober.

"If he's making you that upset, go tell someone!" Bruno finally says, exasperated.

"I am telling someone. I'm telling you."

"Someone other than me! Like… one of your professors."

"I can't do that!" Antinomy's cheeks flushed.

"Well, he's driving you crazy and you're driving me crazy!" Bruno snaps, flipping through his algebra notes.

"He's just so arrogant and vain and full of himself and-"

"Ant, I'm going to throw my book at you."

Antinomy pouts.

"Look, if he bothers you that much, corner him after class and punch him in the face," Bruno suggests.

"Whoa, such violence little brother," Ant says in a teasing voice. "So much for your pacifism thing."

"You're driving me crazy!" Bruno snaps, and he gets up. "I'm going to go to the library."

Antinomy frowns.

"Fine."

* * *

On the way to the library, Bruno spots someone who fits Antinomy's description of Placido perfectly. He seems to be struggling with a large piece of cardboard.

"Need help?" Bruno trots up to him.

"I'm fine," the man growls.

"Are you Placido?" Bruno asks, walking alongside him.

"Yeah. So?" Placido snaps. Was he always in such a bad mood?

"You've really been upsetting my brother, Antinomy," Bruno says. "Could you please stop?"

Placido smirks.

"So he had to ask you to talk to me? How lame."

"No, he doesn't know I'm talking to you," Bruno tells him, already regretting what he's doing.

"Well, tell your brother to suck it up. This is the real world."

Bruno frowns.

"He's really sensitive. Especially about his glasses. He needs them for medical reasons. Without them he can't see the color red, or any colors with red in them."

"Wow, I so don't care."

They arrive at the art building. Bruno doesn't follow Placido in. He's now regretting having said anything at all. Sighing, he turns and heads to the library.

* * *

"YOU FUCKING TOLD HIM?!"

Antinomy is so hurt, so betrayed… and furious.

"I… I thought if I explained it to him, he'd-"

"Yeah, well, he told our entire class and all day I got 'Hey Ant, what color is this?' and people taking my glasses off and then asking me what color something is, and people trying on my fucking glasses. So thanks. Thanks a lot."

"Oh, Ant…!"

But Antinomy storms out of the room. Bruno feels completely horrible. Tears fill his eyes and he sniffs. He quickly pulls out his phone and texts Yusei, asking him if he can come over because he needs to talk to someone. Yusei doesn't even ask why and just replies with an okay. Ten minutes later, there's a knock on his door.

Bruno opens it and Yusei enters.

"What's up, Bruno?" Yusei asks, and Bruno bursts into tears. He's incredibly embarrassed to be crying in front of Yusei but at the same time he's grateful to have Yusei's arms around him and his back rubbed. When Bruno calms down, he tearfully tells Yusei what happened.

"I'm sorry," Yusei comforts him, "but he's your brother. He'll forgive you."

"I was j-just trying to h-help…" he sniffs.

"This Placido guy sounds like a real dick though," Yusei says. "I'd like to introduce him to Jack. Jack doesn't take shit from anyone."

Bruno wipes his face.

"Sorry for crying…" he mumbles, his checks definitely burning red.

"There's nothing wrong with crying," Yusei tells him. Then he adds, "Wanna come back to my dorm? My friend's roommate has a Wii and we're in the middle of a Smash Brothers tournament."

"Oh, did I interrupt it? I'm sorry…" Bruno sniffs, feeling bad.

"Oh, it's no biggie." And Yusei's cheeks turn just the faintest shade of pink. "You said you needed someone to talk to and it sounded important. I was losing anyway."

"Thanks, Yusei," Bruno replies with a smile. "And yeah, I could use a distraction right now."

* * *

_Knock, knock, knock._

Placido wonders who the hell that could be.

Placido was able to land a single room owing to the fact that he had allergy problems, and if anyone owned a dog and had dog hair on their possessions, he'd have a severe allergy attack.

_KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK!_

"I'm coming!" Placido hisses, careful not to curse in case it's a CA. When he opens the door, he finds a very pissed off Antinomy glaring at him.

"How the fuck did you find out where I live?!" Placido snaps. "That's creepy, you know-"

"Listen here you little shit," Antinomy interrupts him in a slur, clearly drunk, "this week has been HELL for me because of you. Do you know what it's like to live with a medical condition that only two other people in the entire world have?! That impairs the one thing you're actually passionate about?! To have to wear something ridiculous and be ridiculed for it?! You have NO idea what I fucking go through or what I've gone through just to be here today!"

Antinomy is shouting now and people are poking their heads out of their rooms to see what's going on.

"You're a fucking arrogant piece of shit with no manners and no fucking fashion sense! Have you noticed that you have no fucking friends? I wonder why that is. You don't even have a fucking roommate because you're so goddamn obnoxious! Do you feel good about yourself? Do you feel fucking fantastic after putting people down for no fucking reason? Huh? HUH?!" And Antinomy jabs his chest, causing Placido to stumble backwards.

"I hope you're fucking proud of yourself! Asshole!" And with that Antinomy turns and marches to the stairwell, disappearing. Everyone who was watching begins to whistle or clap. Placido shuts his door, feeling humiliated but otherwise numb to Antinomy's words. He was used to the slander. He had long since hardened himself to others. The world was cruel, so he became cruel to the world.

Placido sits on his bed and carefully unzips his boots, revealing legs covered completely in burn scars.

Yes, he would certainly never trust anyone again.

* * *

Bruno's afraid to go back to his dorm and face his brother, but it's three in the morning and there's class tomorrow and Yusei and his friends are going to bed. Yusei offers to walk him to his dorm and Bruno graciously accepts. He says goodbye to Yusei at the door to his tower and enters, flashing his card with the colored sticker relating to his dorm so he may enter.

When Bruno cautiously enters his room Antinomy is asleep. Bruno tries to be quiet as he gets ready for bed. He hopes Ant won't be mad anymore tomorrow.

* * *

"I gave that bitch a piece of my mind!"

Ant is cheerfully telling Bruno the story of his drunken self from the previous night while holding a cold water bottle to his forehead in the dining hall.

"So you're not mad at me anymore?" Bruno asks cautiously.

"Nah. You were just trying to help. Looking out for your brother. Thanks Bru."

Bruno sighs with relief.

"Boy did I make a scene though," Ant says proudly. "Everyone in the hall was poking their heads out of their rooms to see. Serves that bastard right. Did you know he's in a single? I bet he was horrible to his roommate and they ditched him. He's such an arrogant fuck face. It's no wonder he doesn't have any friends."

"You don't seem to have friends either," comes a voice. The two brothers turn to see Placido standing behind them with an amused smile on his face. "You're always with your twerp brother."

Antinomy jumps up, looking severely pissed.

"You've got some nerve!" he snaps.

"Oh please. It will take a lot more than a little drunken episode and name-calling to break me. You're pathetic."

"You're scum, you know that?" Antinomy snarls.

"The world is scum. I'm simply choosing to embrace it." Placido turns and leaves them be. Antinomy is fuming. Bruno doesn't know what to do. There was definitely something… off about that Placido guy.

* * *

Bruno is now quite sure that his crush on Yusei is serious. He's constantly daydreaming about a Yusei who has broken up with his boyfriend and is crying into his chest as Bruno holds and comforts him. He also daydreams about Yusei confessing his feelings of deep attraction for him and kissing him by the fountain during a dark and starry night.

However, the weekend comes and along with it, Kiryu. Bruno had been getting cozy within Yusei's circle of friends- although Jack definitely didn't like him, he could tell. But now hanging out with Yusei and his friends was getting awkward. With Kiryu, that made two couples and two single men. And this time around Kiryu was really, REALLY affectionate and disgustingly cute with Yusei, who seemed to be in pure bliss. Bruno wonders what god he's pissed off this week for this to be happening.

"So Crow, I never imagined you'd fall for a guy," Kiryu remarks after being introduced to Brave.

"Hey, I never thought I'd fall for a guy either," both Crow and Brave say, and then they snort at having said the exact same thing at the same time. They had been doing that a lot recently.

"Do we even know anyone who's actually straight?" Yusei says. "Jack? Bruno?"

The two shift uncomfortably.

"Now now, that's a rude thing to just say," Crow scolds Yusei quickly, knowing that Jack hasn't come out to him yet.

"The world would be a better a place if everyone liked both sexes," Kiryu says with a half glance at Yusei. "No more fights over homosexuality being a sin and no more worrying if you have a chance with someone the same sex as you… Well, the world would be a lot more peaceful. Doesn't that sound nice?"

"Very nice," Yusei sighs dreamily, putting his hand over Kiryu's. Jack rolls his eyes and Bruno mentally gags himself.

"So, what's the plan for today?" Brave asks.

"How about we go see a movie?" Kiryu suggests.

"No," Jack and Bruno say at the same time. They look at each other, startled rather than amused like Brave and Crow had been. Both of them knew that seeing a movie would just lead to couple make outs and them feeling awkward.

"Okay, no movie then," says Brave. "What about just going to the mall?"

Jack and Bruno still didn't like that idea, but then again they didn't like any idea that involved Kiryu and Yusei being together.

"Ooh! I need a new jacket!" Yusei exclaims happily.

"I'll buy you whatever you want, babe," Kiryu says, kissing him on the cheek.

"Oh, Kiryu… no… I couldn't let you do that…" Yusei is blushing sheepishly. Jack and Bruno are mentally killing themselves.

"The mall it is!" Brave claps his hands together and stands up, Crow following him. Kiryu and Yusei stand up holding hands, and Yusei is still smiling and blushing sheepishly- and cutely, both Jack and Bruno can't help admitting to themselves. Reluctantly, the two single men stand up too and follow the others as they walk to the loop bus. Kiryu and Yusei are holding hands and Brave and Crow have their arms around each other. Jack and Bruno both glower at the two happy couples.

* * *

Bruno has a decent time at the mall, to his surprise.

It started when they were in the music store. Bruno was shuffling through CDs when he heard Yusei call to him.

"Bruno, listen to this!"

Bruno turned and saw Yusei gesturing to him excitedly. Kiryu wore a pout of displeasure on his face. Nervously, he strode over to have headphones jammed on his head. After a minute of listening, Bruno exclaimed, "Oh my god, it's like this song was written about him!"

"I know, right?!"

"About who, Yusei?" Kiryu asked with fake curiosity.

"Oh, someone from a video game Bruno and I play," Yusei replied hastily. Kiryu pouted.

"I wanna play video games with you~" he whined, draping his arms around Yusei's shoulders.

"You don't like any games though," Yusei snorts. "I tried to get you to play with me but you get frustrated and quit. Actually you don't like anything Japanese really. You're a bad Asian."

/Yes, video games are MY thing with Yusei!/ Bruno thought defiantly.

"Are you making fun of me?" Kiryu pouted, and he tried to kiss Yusei from behind. Yusei whined at him as people started giving them looks.

"But I want to do things with youuuuu," Kiryu whines playfully, giving the most sickening pout Bruno has ever seen.

"We do plenty of things together." Yusei pet Kiryu's hair with what he thought was affection, but Kiryu still looked unhappy. When Yusei wasn't looking he shot a dirty look at Bruno, who returned it with a mental vision of giving his love rival the finger.

"Hey Yusei, look at this," Jack suddenly put in, but he wasn't heard.

When they entered the game store, Yusei barely talked to Kiryu. He and Bruno discussed games Kiryu didn't know a thing about, and it displeased him very much. Kiryu tried to regain his attention by putting his arms around Yusei and kissing him from behind. Yusei kept shrugging him off until he finally snapped, "[Stop it! You're being annoying!]" in Japanese.

"[You're the one being annoying!]" Kiryu snapped back. "[Come on, let's go somewhere that we can both enjoy!]"

Yusei gave him a disbelieving look.

"[Didn't you JUST say that you wanted to video game with me?! If you meant what you said we wouldn't be having this problem!"]

"[Yeah I do, but I want it to be just you and me!]"

"[You are really fucking unbelievable.]

Bruno was pretending to be looking through games while listening to the lover's spat. He couldn't tell what they were arguing about but as long as they were arguing he didn't care. And it seemed as though Yusei was trying his best to include him even though he was with his boyfriend, which raised his spirits.

Jack, however, sulked in a corner of the store. He wondered where Crow and Brave had run off to. That made a total of zero of his friends actually hanging out with him. He wondered if Yusei would even notice if he just slipped away.

* * *

"Which one do you like better, Bruno?" Yusei asks, holding up two different jackets. They had migrated to Yusei's favorite clothing store and Yusei was trying to pick out a new jacket. No one seemed to notice the absence of the redheads or the blonde.

"Oh, the blue one looks nice," Bruno bashfully replies.

"I like the red one," Kiryu puts in almost immediately. Yusei, however, has caught on by now.

"Can you hold these real quick?" Yusei asks sweetly to Bruno, who takes the jackets. Yusei grabs Kiryu's arm and drags him outside.

"[I know what you're doing and you need to knock it the fuck off.]"

"[What? You asked me which color I liked better and I answered!]"

"[I asked Bruno!]" Yusei snaps.

"[Why would you ask Bruno? You're MY boyfriend!]"

"[Keep this up much longer and I won't be.]"

"[Aha! I knew it! You fucking like him! I fucking knew it!]" Kiryu almost has a crazed look on his face.

"[Okay. Give me a reason why you think that.]"

"[You're paying attention to him and not me!]"

"[News flash, Kiryu: the world does NOT revolve around you!]"

Bruno can tell they are arguing heatedly in their native tongue. After a few minutes Yusei storms back inside with a clear sorry-about-that look on his face. Kiryu looks extremely pissed off.

"I like the blue one too," Yusei replies sweetly, taking it from Bruno.

"I'll buy it for you," Kiryu grunts, and he reaches out for it. Yusei whips it out of Kiryu's grip.

"I'll buy it myself." And he sweeps himself over to the register. Bruno follows Yusei in order to avoid Kiryu's wrath, since he had immediately gotten the Kiryu Glare of Death.

"Oh my god, Bruno," Yusei suddenly exclaims, pointing to the row of keychains by the counter. There was a keychain of a cat in a toolbox.

"Oh my god."

Bruno looks at the keychain covetously. He checks his wallet for money but found that he had less than he thought. Yusei sees the disappointed look on his face and snatches up the keychain, slapping it on the counter.

"I'll take this too."

* * *

Both Kiryu and Jack were quiet on the bus ride home. Yusei knew Kiryu was mad at him but he was mad too. They'd fight it out later and then have rough make up sex. So really, Kiryu should be happy for this excuse to destroy Yusei's room. As for Jack, well, Jack was just a moody person. Today must have started his man period. As for Brave and Crow, they just whispered to each other all the way back, looking up at the others occasionally.

When they get back to campus, Jack follows Brave and Crow back to their dorm while Yusei offers to walk Bruno back to his. Kiryu walks behind the two looking murderous.

Yusei deliberately walks slow because he knows that as soon as Bruno leaves Kiryu is going to throw a bitchfit. Bruno seemed very happy though, and he kept looking at his new keychain, and that made Yusei feel good.

Okay, so maybe he DID have a huge friend crush on Bruno. They were just so alike! That was no reason for Kiryu to get so worked up. It didn't mean he didn't love Kiryu or that he was gonna leave him or stop hanging out with him.

"See you later, Bruno," Yusei says as they reach his dorm building.

"Thanks again for the keychain," Bruno replies sheepishly.

"No problem. It was just so you." And then he hugs him, just to get Kiryu's bitchfit started and over with. Sure enough, Bruno wasn't even halfway through the door (knees weak from giddiness) when Kiryu snapped something in Japanese that Bruno didn't understand and Yusei yelled back. Bruno did not even feel sorry. He turns for one last look and sees Kiryu grab Yusei's arm and drag him off, probably somewhere where they could yell at each other in private.

* * *

"Am I a bad person, Ant?" Bruno wonders out loud as he lays on his bed, holding his new keychain above him. "I hugged him back knowing it was going to cause a problem. And it made me feel good."

"All's fair in love and war, Bruno," Antinomy says as he sketches a still-life he had just set up for his drawing class.

"They're fighting… because of me… I'm ruining a relationship…"

"If Yusei's man is going to get jealous over every little thing then there's a problem there," Antinomy says. "He's obviously being way too controlling. Yusei needs to get out of there. This smells like a lot of trouble down the road."

"Oh yeah? How would you know? You've never been in an actual relationship in your life!" Bruno shoots at him.

"I've done my research," Antinomy replies. "Romance novels are my favorite. You know that."

"That hardly counts as knowing about real relationships," Bruno rolls his eyes.

"More than you know," Antinomy replies. "You have to trust me on this. They're not going to last much longer. And when they break up, you swoop in. So you have to get as close as you can to Yusei beforehand. Make him focus on you. Then he'll see you as-"

"Ant, you're making my head hurt," Bruno sighs.

"Just show Yusei that you would make a better boyfriend than his current one. That way, when they split, you'll be at the top of his radar of suitable mates who will treat him better than who he left behind."

Bruno frowns, still staring at his keychain.

"Do you think I really have a shot with him?"

"You guys have a lot in common, and from what you've told me he goes out of his way to be a friend to you. So I'd say you have a pretty good shot."

Bruno smiles.

"Yeah…" he says, a little dreamily, "Yeah… that's all true… yeah… Oh!"

Bruno sits up suddenly and Ant looks over.

"I bought you something at the mall today!"

"Aww, for me?" Ant smiles. "You didn't have to."

"I wanted to cheer you up, since that Placido guy's been a real jerk to you."

Bruno rummages through his bag and pulls out a box of cinnamon buns.

"Cinnamon buns! My favorite!" Antinomy jumps up and hugs Bruno affectionately.

"Thanks little bro!"

"Can Placido say he's got cinnamon buns? I don't think so," Bruno grins at Ant, handing over the box.

"No he cannot," Antinomy grins back, taking a bite out of a bun. "Mmmm. This almost rivals sex. Almost."

"Do you have to allude everything to sex?" Bruno sighs.

"Yes."

"I don't know how we're related."


	5. Stop 5

**Stop 5:**

"[Why do you always start something with me whenever you come here?]"

Yusei and Kiryu are cuddling in Yusei's bed after a rather rough fucking. Crow is hanging out with Brave and Jack in their room.

Earlier that day, after Yusei had hugged Bruno, Kiryu had dragged Yusei into an alley and blown up on him.

"[I'm your boyfriend and you should be paying attention to me! But you spent half the day with that guy who obviously has googily eyes for you!"]

"[Bruno and I are just friends, Kiryu! Am I not allowed to have fucking friends?!]"

"[You can have fucking friends! But it's not right that you pay attention to them more than me! I'm your goddamn boyfriend!]"

"[You haven't been acting like much of a boyfriend! You've been treating me like I'm some kind of fucking POSSESSION! I'm a person, not your fucking… I don't even know what you think I am to you! Your fucking sex slave?!]"

Somewhere in Kiryu's mind, a voice whispered, "slap him." Kiryu couldn't distinguish the voice from his own thoughts and obeyed mindlessly.

Yusei stumbled back, putting his hand to his smarting cheek.

Immediately, Kiryu looked horrified.

"[Yusei, I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!]" Kiryu flung his arms around a shocked Yusei and pulled him close.

"[I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to hit you. You're not my possession and you're not my sex slave, okay? And it hurt to hear that that's what you thought I thought, because it's not true. I love you. You're my best friend and you mean everything to me. And I get… a little jealous sometimes. Because you're so amazing and I'm so scared of losing you, because who WOULDN'T want someone as amazing and smart and kind and cute as you? I love you, Yusei. Please forgive me…]"

Yusei sniffled against Kiryu's chest. He wrapped his arms around him and said in a cracked voice, "[Y-You really mean all that?]"

"[Of course I do, babe,]" Kiryu replied with a wave of relief that Yusei wasn't mad.

Yusei looked up at him, his eyes watery and his hurt cheek a bright red, but he was smiling.

"[I love you too, Kiryu. You don't have to be jealous of anyone, okay?]"

"[Okay.]"

They kissed, and then Yusei pulled him by the arm back to his room as they both laughed and tripped, and then when they got to Yusei's door, Kiryu pushed him up against it and began kissing him fiercely. Yusei moaned and ruffled up Kiryu's hair.

"[God, you're sexy,]" Yusei moaned as Kiryu nibbled his neck. Kiryu dipped his hand into Yusei's pocket, causing Yusei to squeak. He was about to tell Kiryu not to do what he thought he was going to do while they were in the hall and anyone could see, but Kiryu quickly withdrew his hand holding Yusei's key. He fumbled with the lock and once he got it open, Yusei dragged him in, quickly putting the sex ribbon on his doorknob and relocking the door. A little less than an hour later, they were panting in bed, the room now two matching sides of complete chaos.

"[I don't mean to start things with you, Yusei. I guess… the distance is a little hard. For the past two years we've seen each other every day. Slept together every night. And now I can only see you on weekends. That's a huge shock to my system. I'm needy. I need you. All the time.]"

"[I just don't understand why you don't trust me.]"

"[I do trust you. It's everyone else I don't trust.]"

Kiryu caresses Yusei's face and kisses him sweetly.

"[I love you, Yusei. So much.]"

"[I love you too.]

Yusei rests his head against Kiryu's chest and drapes his arm across Kiryu's stomach. Just as he's beginning beginning to fall asleep Kiryu mutters, "[What'd you say?]"

"[I didn't say anything,]" Yusei mutters back sleepily.

"[Oh. Alright.]"

About five minutes later, when Yusei had almost fallen asleep again, Kiryu abruptly sits up.

"[Someone definitely said my name.]"

"[You're just tired,]" Yusei murmurs. "[Go to sleep.]"

But Kiryu stayed alert. And just as Yusei was falling asleep _again_, Kiryu shouts, "WHOEVER'S OUT THERE, IT'S NOT FUNNY! STOP IT!"

"Goddamn it, Kiryu," Yusei groans, getting up. He wraps a blanket around his waist and opens the door.

"There's no one there," he sighs, shutting the door.

"Someone is saying my name!"

"You're hearing things. Just go to bed, and if in the morning you-"

"I'm not hearing things! Don't even fucking say that!"

"Jesus Christ, calm down and just go the hell to sleep!" Yusei whines, getting back into bed. But as soon as he closed his eyes he felt Kiryu roll on top of him and start assaulting him with kisses. Yusei whines again but wraps his arms around his boyfriend.

"[I love you, Yusei. Please don't ever forget that."

"[I love you too. Now let's go to sleep, alright?]"

"[Alright.]"

And then when Kiryu was starting to fall asleep he heard Yusei say, "[I love you, Kiryu.]"

"[I love you too,]" Kiryu murmurs back.

Except Yusei had been fast asleep for the past five minutes and hadn't said a word.

* * *

"So how are you and Kiryu?" Bruno asks at the start of class on Monday.

"We're good. We had a fight but we fixed everything."

"…oh. Oh, well that's good!"

Bruno looks back at his notes.

"I didn't mean to cause you two any problems. I just wanted to thank you for the keychain. And you know… being my friend…"

"Don't worry about it, Bruno. Kiryu and I fixed everything. I… wow. I really love him. He's amazing and sweet… And good in bed too. I really think we have a future together. If he asked me to marry him I'd- Bruno, do you feel okay?"

Bruno's face is sheet white, tinged with green. He jumps up and runs out of the room. The class goes silent and looks with concern at the closing door.

"I'll check on him," Yusei says quickly, getting up. The professor nods at him and Yusei leaves. When he enters the boy's bathroom he hears someone being violently sick.

"Bruno? Is that you?"

"…yeah…"

He sounds weak.

"Did you want to go home? I can bring you your stuff."

"…yeah. Bring…. stuff here… gonna text Ant…"

Yusei goes back to class. When he enters, the room goes silent again and the professor looks at him.

"Bruno's sick. I'm gonna bring him his stuff and help him back to his dorm."

The professor nods at him and Yusei gathers up Bruno's stuff. As he leaves he hears the professor starting a speech about the consequences of partying and getting drunk. Yusei doubted Bruno had been drinking.

When he returns to the bathroom he hears Bruno sobbing softly, still locked in a stall.

"I have your stuff," Yusei says gently. "Are you okay?"

Bruno sniffles.

"Yeah… thanks, Yusei…."

"There's no need to be upset," Yusei tells him. "It's not your fault you're sick."

"Sorry. I just… sorry…"

"Don't be sorry. Do you need help back to your dorm?"

"No… Ant's coming… you should go back to class and take notes…"

"Right. I'll come by your dorm later and drop them off so you can copy them, okay?"

"Okay…. Thanks, Yusei…."

"Feel better, Bruno."

* * *

When Antinomy arrives, he's fully prepared for a sick Bruno. What he isn't prepared for is a crying Bruno.

"Bruno? Why are you crying, bro?"

Bruno lets out another few sobs before saying, "I don't have a chance in hell with Yusei."

"What? THAT'S why you're upset?! What even makes you say that?!"

Bruno quietly tells Antinomy exactly what Yusei had said this morning.

"Oh come on, Bruno! People say dumb things like that and then the next day they change their mind. You made yourself sick over that?!"

"Stop making me feel worse," Bruno whines miserably. "Please… just help me back to our room…"

"Alright, alright."

* * *

Shortly after helping Bruno back to their dorm, Ant left for his drawing class. He was liking his classes less and less because of Placido. He hoped they were just drawing a still life and he could pop in his earbuds and ignore him.

But when Antinomy enters the studio, there are desks, and the easels are against the wall. That was the sign of a four hour lecture. Ant sighs and takes a seat in the back, hoping Placido would sit far away from him.

But Placido never came. Not that Antinomy minded. He was able to take notes in peace.

However, the day's surprises weren't over yet.

"We'll be taking a trip into town to take pictures for the next project," the professor explains. "You will pick the most interesting picture you take and draw it. There must be at least one person in your picture, and you will be working in groups of two."

The class begins to murmur. Ant smirks and takes a look around. There were plenty of girls to choose from. He usually didn't play around with girls he'd have to see in one of his classes, but he could make an exception this time. The girl with the blonde ponytail and pink mini skirt seemed like a good first choice. He wonders how best to manipulate his partner into posing nude, or semi nude, for the shoot.

"I have already put you into groups, based on how different your art styles are. The groups are as follows-"

To Antinomy's horror, he had been paired with Placido.

* * *

_Knock, knock, knock!_

Placido groans. Who the fuck was at his door?

He had spent all day sleeping due to his legs becoming so sore that it rendered him almost immobile. This happened every so often due to his legs having suffered third degree burns. He was lucky to still have legs, and the fact that he COULD walk was seen as nothing short of a miracle to the doctors who had treated him. So when his legs acted up, he'd take a shit load of painkillers and sleep it off.

But now someone was at his fucking door.

Placido scowls and winces as he gets up. He was less than pleased to discover Antinomy standing outside his door.

"Come to apologize?" Placido asks cheekily.

"No," Antinomy says defiantly, "I came to give the work you missed." He looks as though this is physically paining him. Placido eyes him suspiciously.

"Why?"

"Because we have a group project and the professor is forcing me to be your partner," Antinomy informs him through gritted teeth. It's obvious that just the sight of Placido angers him.

"I knew there was some ulterior motive."

"Shut up and take your shit." Antinomy thrusts a bundle of xeroxed papers at the other man.

"What? You don't trust me with your actual notebook?" Placido says sarcastically.

"I don't even trust you on the same campus as me," Ant snarls, "and I am NOT letting you ruin this project for me. So whatever problems you seem to have with the rest of humanity, suck them up. I'm not getting a bad grade just because you're a giant ass."

"If anything I should be telling you not to hold me back," Placido sneers. "Your creativity is severely lacking."

"Excuse me? You're the one who never knows how to properly set up a fucking still life!" Ant snaps.

"Everyone always sets them up so boring looking. I make them interesting."

"What you think is interesting has no design elements whatsoever."

"Says the guy who can't see the color red."

Antinomy's cheeks flush the color he could he could not see without the help of his glasses.

"Why are you such an ass, Placido, huh? What did I ever do to you?"

"You existed."

Ant lets out a noise of disgusted disbelief and storms off.

* * *

When Ant returns to his room, Bruno is sitting up in bed, Yusei sitting on the end. They are doing homework together.

"YOU WON'T FUCKING BELIEVE THIS!" Ant shouts as he flings open the door. "Oh, hi Yusei. Are you feeling better Bruno?"

"Uh… yeah…" Bruno says, blinking. "What happened? Why did you scream when you came in here?"

"We have a fucking group project to do in Drawing and I FUCKING GOT PAIRED WITH PLACIDO!" Ant then told Bruno and Yusei about going to Placido's room to give him his make up work.

"That guy needs a serious beating," Yusei say after hearing the story.

"Violence isn't the answer," Bruno scolds him, his pacifism taking over.

"Says the guy who told me to punch him in the face the other day," Ant mocks.

"You were really annoying me!"

"Sometimes violence IS the answer, if words don't work," Yusei tells him. Bruno gives him a look.

"Violence just causes fear, trauma, and more violence."

Yusei goes silent. Did he have some sort of bad experience or something?

"Dumb project…" Ant mutters, breaking the silence. "Stupid fucking Placido…"

"When do you guys have to take your pictures?" Bruno asks.

"The field trip is next Monday," Ant sighs, as he gets up and rummages through his fridge for a beer.

"You have beer in your fridge?" Yusei asks, eyeing the bottle.

"Yeah, don't tell anyone," Ant says, popping the cap and taking a gulp. "Want one?"

"Sure."

Bruno gives Yusei a look of shocked betrayal.

"Ooh look, I think Bruno's image of you as a person just shattered," Ant teases, handing Yusei a beer.

"What?"

"Bruno doesn't like drinking."

Bruno pouts at his brother.

"Well, it's bad for you," Bruno says defiantly.

"I only drink occasionally," Yusei reassures him. "Usually it's because Kiryu is being an ass."

"To assholes!" Antinomy says, chinking his bottle with Yusei's, and Yusei grins. Bruno frowns as Yusei takes a few gulps of the foul liquid.

* * *

After two drinks, Antinomy still isn't too drunk but Yusei is smashed. Bruno doesn't know if he's annoyed or happy that drunk Yusei has his arm around him and is leaning against him, telling Bruno what a great friend he is and how he wished Kiryu was more like him.

"Didn't you say earlier that if he asked you to marry him, you'd accept?" Bruno asks, his cheeks burning.

"Yeh but… 'e never les me do wit I want…" Yusei drunkenly complains, " 's all 'bout 'im… in bed…"

Bruno's cheeks flare into a bright red. He did not want to have this conversation with his crush.

" 'es not even romantic anymore…" Yusei is suddenly on the verge of tears. " …never feel special 'nymore… no goo' morn'g text… er flowers… er Facebook stutuses…"

And then Yusei is crying into Bruno's shoulder, both arms around him. Antinomy looks positively delighted.

"Bruno would treat you way better if he was your boyfriend!"

The words ring in Bruno's ears. He can't believe they just came out of his brother's mouth. Bruno wishes to just evaporate from existence, right then and there.

"Y-You would?"

Yusei tearfully looks up into Bruno's face. Bruno's face somehow turns even redder.

"W-Well yeah…" he says, braver than he feels. "You deserve to be treated like a prince. Not like an accessory… You deserve to feel special…"

Yusei eyes leak even more as he hugs Bruno tight.

"Y-Yer such a good f-friend, Bruno!" Yusei wails, burying his face in Bruno's chest.

/Oh… Friend.../

"Would you ever consider Bruno as more than a friend?" Antinomy asks, and Bruno is sure he's about to die of embarrassment.

Yusei pulls back and, without any shame, looks Bruno up and down.

"You are cute," he remarks, " 'n your nice to me… 'n we have s' much im common-" Yusei is smiling widely now and Bruno decides this has gone far enough and it was time to put this to an end.

"Okay, you're drunk. Time to go home, Yusei," Bruno says, helping him up.

"Nuuuuu I dun wanna go!" And Yusei starts crying again. Bruno shoots a nasty look at his brother, who is grinning from ear to ear.

"This is all your fault!" Bruno snaps.

"You'll thank me for this later," Antinomy tells him. "Hey Yusei, you wanna stay here for the night?"

"No!" Bruno chokes out at the same time Yusei says in a happy voice, "Yes!"

"Great! I'm sure Bruno doesn't mind sharing his bed!"

"ANT!"

But Yusei seems delighted. He immediately crawls under the covers of Bruno's bed and snuggles up, his head on Bruno's pillow.

"Thanks, Bruno," Yusei says as he closes his eyes and falls almost instantly asleep.

Bruno just stares.

"This is perfect!" Ant says, "I'll get his phone and send his boyfriend a picture!"

"NO FUCKING WAY!" Bruno hisses, and he snatches up Yusei's phone before Ant can get it.

"You're missing a great opportunity here, Bru," Ant says.

"I'm going to text Crow to tell him so he doesn't worry, but that's it. I'm not going to cause more problems for Yusei and his boyfriend."

"You are no fun."

"I can't believe you got him drunk. You're unbelievable, you know that?"

"Hey, he wanted the beer. And look at it this way; you now have a drunk Yusei in your bed. You're welcome."

Bruno was not pleased.

* * *

When Yusei wakes up, he first registers a splitting headache and a ringing in his ears. The next thing he registers is that he is not in his bed, nor Kiryu's.

He blinks several times to try to get his dry eyes to open. Across from him he recognizes Bruno's brother Antinomy asleep in bed. So he was in Bruno's room? One look down told him that Bruno was sleeping on the floor.

Guilt floods Yusei. He had taken Bruno's bed… Because he had gotten smashed last night. No wonder his head hurt so much!

He tried to remember if he did anything stupid while drunk. He remembers crying, and complaining about Kiryu and… telling Bruno he thought he was cute.

Yusei's cheeks immediately flush. Embarrassed, he quietly shimmies out of bed, gathers up his stuff, and leaves.

He could never talk to to Bruno again.

Antinomy and Bruno wake up to Ant's alarm. Bruno is incredibly stiff from having slept on the ground. He stands up as Ant rolls over and smacks his alarm clock. Bruno sees that his bed is empty. He's a bit… sad? He shakes the feeling. He hopes Yusei got back all right. And also that he didn't remember anything that happened last night. He gets out his phone and texts Yusei, asking him if he got back okay and how he is feeling.

He never gets an answer.

Yusei doesn't show up for class.

Bruno becomes extremely worried.

* * *

"I told him he was cute," Yusei says, horrified, to Crow.

"Well, DO you think he's cute?" Crow asks.

"Well… yeah…" Yusei says quietly, blushing slightly. "Oh god, he's probably so weirded out! I can never talk to him again!"

"You're overreacting, Yusei," Crow sighs, handing Yusei an ice pack from their freezer. Yusei takes it and holds it to his aching head. "For all you know he thinks you're cute too."

"There's no way he's a homo. He's too… straight."

"You and Jack thought I was 'too straight' too and look at me."

"No. I can never talk to him again." Yusei curls under his covers miserably and says, "If he comes by because I didn't go to class, tell him I'm not here. I'll go hide in the bathroom."

"Yusei, don't be such a cunt. Man up to your mistakes. You can't just run from your problems."

"Watch me."

"And what if I refuse to lie for you?"

"You're my best friend. You have to. It's in the best friend contract."

"Is not."

"Is too. Just do it, Crow. I've lied for you plenty of times. Remember when you spiked the punch at prom and the principal knew it was you and I lied and said you were with me in the bathroom when it happened? Huh? Remember that?"

"Ugh. Fine."

"Thanks, Crow."

* * *

But Bruno doesn't come by. His nerves proved to be just as faulty as Yusei's. Wednesday comes and goes with still no text back, or any contact at all, and Bruno is too afraid to send more messages. And when Thursday comes, Bruno finds himself being ignored by Yusei all day.

So… he HAD remembered what happened.

Bruno's stomach seems to turn cold and sink out of his body. His heart goes numb.

The one person he had actually made friends with, actually felt a connection with… no longer wanted to be his friend.


End file.
